Spain, Russia To Battle It Out In Semis

Andrei Kirilenko had a doubl-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds for Russia

Russia and Spain will fight it out on Friday for a chance to play in the gold medal game at the Olympics.

The teams won their respective Quarter-Finals on Wednesday at the North Greenwich Arena in London, with Russia holding off a never-say-die Lithuania and Spain surviving in a physical encounter against a great France.

A player who took centre stage for Russia was Sergey Monya. He hit timely shots, finishing with 10 points, and got important rebounds.

"Our captain, Sergey Monya, has been with me from day one with the national team seven years ago, and he's never missed a day, never missed a game, and never missed an opportunity to contribute," Blatt said.

"He came up the biggest at the right time today."

Russia were clinging to a 59-55 four minutes into the fourth quarter when Monya buried a three-pointer.

The next trip down the floor, Monya struck again from inside the arc to make it 64-55.

"He's been one-on-13 (shooting) in the tournament up to now but he came up with two big shots at the right time to put us in the final four of the Olympics."

Blatt's former associate head coach at Dynamo St. Petersburg and Benetton Treviso, Kestutis Kemzura, is at the helm of Lithuania.

"Today we faced a really strong opponent," Kemzura said.

"The Russian team has been playing great basketball in this tournament, defending well and moving a lot, sharing the ball.

"We tried to take our chances and I think we fought hard, but we were maybe nervous and we turned the ball over. Playing against this team, that will cost you."

Marc Gasol was the topscorer for Spain, who now have the chance to reach their second consecutive Olympic Final

France Come Up Short Against Spain

France went toe to toe with Spain and played some of the best, most physical defence ever seen in an Olympic game but came up short.